Sheep worrying incidents on the rise?

http://www.terena.co.uk/sheepwatch-uk.html

SheepWatch UK has been set up in response to the growing number of dog attacks on sheep in the UK.

Statistics taken from the website:
Attacks in January
Total 140 sheep dead, 75 injured, 5 dogs shot
Attacks so far in Feb
Total 199 sheep dead, 65 injured, 7 dogs killed

I just heard today that three dogs were shot in North Wales on 31st May after killing sheep.

https://www.fginsight.com/news/three...th-wales-12552

Whilst the action taken is shocking - and may seem unreasonable to many dog owners, the farmers are within their legal rights (although even that is not as straightforward as many seem to think) ...

http://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/your-...8MDDOQ.twitter

Interestingly, as stated in the earlier link "About 34 per cent of the sheep worrying incidents reported involved a Husky dog". It also seems that quite often it isn't a dog that breaks away from an owner when out on a walk, but dogs that are left alone in gardens or yards overnight, or while owners are out, and that escape that cause most of the problems.

I don't think it is unreasonable for a farmer to shoot a dog caught in the act so to speak, it's the only way some idiot owners learn.

Had a very nasty case up the road from me recently, 3 dead and 2 badly injured.

It is dreadful. Thankfully we have only ever suffered from one incident where sheep were actually killed, and the owner was fined (but his dogs not shot or pts).

I am first and foremost a dog lover, and hate the idea of dogs suffering for the failings of their owners but really not sure what else can be done.

1500 sheep killed in the last two years in North Wales alone

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-n...wales-36423705

The National Farmers Union (NFU) estimates more than 18,000 livestock were killed or seriously injured last year.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35960051

Farming Today said they were several recent reports of lambs being killed, so asked police for numbers of dogs being shot on private land for sheep-worrying between January 2010 and December 2015.

27 of the 43 forces in England and Wales provided figures.

West Yorkshire 54
Durham 33
Cumbria 30
South Wales 25
Hertfordshire 23
Greater Manchester 21
Sussex 17
Cheshire 17

I am trying to find the figures for Scotland/N Ireland.